I slept incredibly well last night. It was the first night that I was in tights, long socks, long sleeve and I even wore a jacket to bed. I’ve been impressed with my ability to 1) sleep with clothes on and 2) sleep zipped up in a cocoon sleeping bag. I woke up at my now apparent wake up time of 6:30am and began to pack up. I now have a system in place that makes things go a bit easier in the morning. I know what pack needs what, and where each item goes. Kind of exciting to have a system down.

I was on the road at 8:01am and I knew immediately out of the park, I’d have big climb. It seemed to take forever and to make things a bit worse, I had my rain gear/wind blocker on because it was cool and near misting when I left the park. It felt like I had the flu all day today but on a bike. I was hot going uphills and extremely cold going downhills. I couldn’t find a comfortable temperature. Today was also the first day that I didn’t see the sun which is crazy considering I’m in the Pacific Northwest.

I stopped in Pacific City to grab coffee about 20 miles in. I was making good time and knew I could make it to Newport by evening. After coffee, I went on ahead and about 20 minutes later, I stopped. Bike problems. My shifter wouldn’t stay in the gear I needed it to be in. I’d shift up into the bigger cogs, making it easier to pedal but the chain wouldn’t stay there. I thought maybe my cable had become loose and didn’t quite fit where it needed to be. After 25 minutes of fiddling, I discovered that all I needed to do was tighten a screw on the actual shifter. Problem solved….. Blah.

I got back to it and hit a few more towns. I knew my goal was South Beach State Park just south of Newport. After my shifter incident things seemed to accumulate. It got colder. It got windier. And the distance seemed to become greater. I had on my rain/wind gear but it just wasn’t working. I was either way too cold or way too hot. I also didn’t plan the day out very well. I bonked for the first time while riding. Energy wasn’t there and I knew I had more distance to cover. Luckily, I packed some Cliff Blocks that I used during my Ironman training and took a few of those. It did the trick along with some water and I was on my way again to cover the last 10 wind-blown miles.

Tonight, I’m in camp and I love Oregon State Parks. Free, hot, untimed showers with hiker/biker sites that are choice. No ocean waves tonight but we’re expected to receive rain so there’s that.

Tomorrow ….. Florence.

Day 9 Bonuses:

Oregon State Parks – so legit

odometers

my mirror that is attached to my sunglasses. Key word sunglasses that are only used when the sun is out…. Which didn’t happen today

watching my neighbor in camp roll a smoke. 9 days in in the PNW, and that’s the first sighting

cool weather to make sleeping outside even better. Like 46 degrees cold